EnergyQ presents real-world experience in managing Critical Communications during a Tropical Cyclone

James Lowe will be presenting at Melbourne's Comms Connect on Wednesday, October 15, 2025. James will provide the real-world experiences of managing the performance and availability of EnergyQ's critical communications system during the significant weather event of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Details

The State of Queensland in Australia endured a significant Tropical Cyclone (Alfred) in March 2025. It's path and resulting landfall was predicted to be 'anywhere' on the eastern coast of Queensland. This subsequently put all regions on high alert in order to be able to respond to disaster and recovery methods whilst ensuring continuity of critical communications during restoration of electrical utilities and customer access.

Conference details are available here - Critical comms users on stage at Comms Connect next month‍

This presentation identifies some issues encountered, responses and subsequent learning outcomes from Tropical Cyclone Alfred and it's impact to the energy network for Energy Queensland.

James Lowe

James has worked for a number of years in private industry, witnessed the computer boom, then transitioned from the mining sector into the education system (CQ University), experiencing many leaps and bounds in information technology. James has spent the past 15 years in the regional area of energy, providing support to substations’ communications sites. James has developed a keen interest in LMR networks. With a strong partnership with several vendors, including Interactive Group, EnergyQ's network operations centre has been able to deal with dozens of incidents per day.

Interactive Group

Interactive Group provides VUpt, a critical communications monitoring and management software solution. Its radio network was built, monitored and maintained by radio crews, and spans the entirety of Queensland. James’s role has involved coordinating the command and control of incidents with the critical communications network to fix on fail, and maintain continuity of radio services. James’s 30 years of experience as a radio signaller in the Australian Defence Force has supported his current role at EnergyQ.

Conference agenda here - Comms Connect Melbourne 2025